retherford



Dec. 8, 1964 H. G. RETHERFORD CARROT PEELER Filed Jan. 2, 1965 INVENTOR' Horace 6. Re/herfora' ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,160,185 CARRQT PEELER Horace G. Retherford, Rte. 1, Box 309, Corona, Calif. Filed Jan. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 248,991 2 Claims. ((31. 1462il3) This invention relates to a carrot peeler and has for an object to provide an improved carrot brush or peeler which may be readily held in one hand while the carrot is held in the other hand so that a proper brushing or peeling pressure may be applied on the carrot held between the brushes for removing only foreign substances, leaving the peeling and all the good vitamins on the skin, or by applying slightly greater manual pressure may also remove a minimum amount of the carrot skin and leave the maximum amount on the carrot.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a carrot peeler consisting of a pair of carrot peeling or cleaning brushes mounted on the legs of a U-shape leaf spring for holding the two brushes in spaced apart relationship to each other with the bristles of each brush facing the bristles of the other brush so that a carrot may be placed between the brushes and the brushes pressed toward each other on opposite sides of the carrot to clean the desired amount of debris and, in addition, as desired, an amount of the peeling away from the carrot.

Still a further object of this invention, is to provide a carrot peeler including a pair of brushes mounted on a U-shaped leaf spring with the angle of the rows of bristles on the brushes at an optimum angle to the direction of the longitudinal axis of the U-shaped leaf spring so that as the carrot is moved longitudinally of the axis of the U-shaped spring, an optimum amount of the surface of the carrot is exposed to the cleaning action of the bristles, the optimum angle of the bristles for providing this result being substantially the acute angle of 22 /2 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the U-shaped leaf spring.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section on line 11 of HG. 2, through the carrot peeler of this invention in operative position.

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view or" the carrot peeler on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the back of one of the brushes.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the face of one of the brushes.

There is shown at the carrot peeler of this invention. The carrot peeler 10 includes two identical brushes 12, substantially rectangular in outline, each mounted on opposite legs 14 of a U-shaped leaf spring 16, the legs 14 extending transversely of the midpoint of the brushes 12.

As will be observed from FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, each brush is provided with a brush base 20 and a reinforcing rectangular rear framing consisting of side bars 18 and end bars 22. It is noted that the end transverse bars 22 rise to a peak at 24. The leaf spring legs 14 extend through the opposite frame side bars 18 at substantially their midpoints 26, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Integrally molded on the face 28 are rows of bristle teeth 311. The brush head and rows of bristle teeth 30 are integrally molded of a suitable plastic material, one manner of suitably molding the bristles with the bristle heads being set forth in U.S. Patent 2,621,369, but any other process of assemblying the bristles and bristle heads preferably as an integral base may be used. It is preferred that the bristles extend integrally from the brush head for sanitary reasons so as to avoid providing any crevices difiicult to clean. The individual bristles taper slightly from their base connection to the brush head to their points, and the points of the bristles are all in a common plane parallel to the plane of the face 28 of the brush head 12.

While in most brushes bristles are arranged in rows parallel to the longitudinal sides of the brushes, it has been found that the optimum angle for the rows of bristles should be 22 /2 degrees to the longer side of the rectangular brush heads 12, as illustrated in FIG. 4, for it has been found that with this angle, and a sufficient number of bristles, when the brush is moved parallel to the longitudinal axis of the U-shaped leaf spring 16, there is an optimum contact between the bristles and the surface of the carrot 32.

The carrot 32 is held between fingers 34 of one hand while the brushes 12 are held between the fingers 36 of the other hand. Pushing the brushes toward each other against the action of the leaf springs 14 to clean the surface of the carrot 32 from all foreign substances with a slight pressure of the fingers 36. With a somewhat greater pressure it also removes and peels a part of the skin of the carrot. leave the maximum amount of vitamin present by regulating the pressure of the fingers 36 toward each other.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, carrots are normally tapered, hence the leaf spring legs 14 instead of being parallel to each other as the legs of the normal U, these legs 14 diverge somewhat from each other approximately parallel to the normal divergence of the opposite sides of a carrot, FIG. 2 being an end view of FIG. 1, the ends of the bristles 28 appear to represent a corrugated surface rather than the actual plain surface that they are. This apparent corrugation is due to the fact that the rearward bristles of both brushes, as viewed in FIG. 2, extend closer together than the forward bristles. Actually, of course, as stated above, the bristle tips are preferably all in a common single plane of the face 28 of the brush head 12.

In operation, the carrot 32 is held in the fingers 34 of one hand, the carrot peeler 10 is held by the fingers 36 of the other hand pressing against the leaf spring legs 14 and the backs 24) of the brush heads applying the pressure causing the brush heads to follow the contour of the carrot as it is moved back and forth longitudinally and, of course, continuously rotated until the entire surface of the carrot has been properly brushed and cleaned.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A carrot peeler comprising a pair of carrot peeler brushes, and a substantially U-shaped leaf spring member providing a handle, said brushes being mounted on the legs of said U-shaped leaf spring member in spaced apart relationship with the bristles of each brush extending toward the bristles of the other brush, each said brush comprising a brush head and a plurality of rows of individually spaced apart tapered bristles of molded plastic material extending integrally from said brush head, the legs of said U-shaped leaf spring extending transversely of each said brush head, the rows of bristles extending at an acute angle to said leaf spring legs, the planes of the bristle points of the two brushes converging toward the bight of the U-shaped handle, said acute angle being the optimum angle of 22 degrees.

2. A carrot peeler comprising a pair of carrot peeler brushes, and a substantially U-shaped leaf spring member providing a handle, said brushes being mounted on the legs of said U-shaped leaf spring member in spaced Such peeling is held to a minimum to Q apart relationship with the bristles of each brush extending toward the bristles of the other brush, each said brush comprising a brush head and a plurality of rows of individually spaced apart tapered bristles ofmolded plastic material extending integrally from said brush head, the legs of said U-shaped leaf spring extending transversely of each said brush head, the planes of the bristle points or the two brushes converging toward the bight of the U-shaped handle, said brush heads being substantially rectangular in shape, said leaf spring legs extending transversely of the longer sides of said rectangular brush heads,

said rows of bristles extending at the optimum angle of 22 /2 degrees to the longer sides of said bristle heads.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 910,374 1/09 Hahn 146-50 1,111,144 9/14 Epstein et al 15167.2 1,565,750 12/25 Nathanson 15167.2 1,679,785 8/28 Quinn l5-167 10 2,683,274 7/54 Kappes l5-l06 I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CARROT PEELER COMPRISING A PAIR OF CARROT PEELER BRUSHES, AND A SUBSTANTIALLY U-SHAPED LEAF SPRING MEMBER PROVIDING A HANDLE, SAID BRUSHED BEING MOUNTED ON THE LEGS OF SAID U-SHAPED LEAF SPRING MEMBER IN SPACED APART RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BRISTLES OF EACH BRUSH EXTENDING TOWARD THE BRISTLES OF THE OTHER BRUSH, EACH SAID BRUSH COMPRISING A BRUSH HEAD AND A PLURALITY OF ROWS OF INDIVIDUALLY SPACED APART TAPERED BRISTLED OF MOLDED PLASTIC MATERIAL EXTENDING INTEGRALLY FROM SAID BRUSH HEAD, THE LEGS OF SAID U-SHAPED LEAF SPRING EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF EACH SAID BRUSH HEAD, THE TOW BRISTLES EXTENDING AT AN ACUTE ANGLE TO SAID LEAF SPRING LEGS, THE PLANES OF THE BRISTLE POINTS OF THE TWO BRUSHES CONVERGING TOWARD THE BIGHT OF THE U-SHAPED HANDLE, SAID ACUTE ANGLE BEING THE OPTIMUM ANGLE OF 22 1/2 DEGREES. 